Cortec® VpCI® solutions prevent corrosion, reduce downtime, and ensure critical power plant assets are ready for immediate startup.
Power plant chimneys spewing rust. Heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) coughing out corrosion dust. Rusty replacement valves that cannot be installed. These are all signs of insufficient preservation, which can lead to unexpected power plant downtime. With the cost of lost revenue running to several hundred thousand dollars per hour, an effective preservation plan is one of the simplest ways to minimise losses and maintain maximum uptime to keep the lights on for customers. With nearly five decades of experience in corrosion control, Cortec® Corporation explains how and why critical power plant assets should be kept rust-free for immediate startup.
Routine power plant maintenance often requires boilers and other critical equipment to be temporarily taken offline. During these periods, rust can quickly form in cool, damp boilers and other components, leaving them in worse condition at the end of maintenance and delaying startup until the issue is resolved.
At other times, critical or operational spares, as well as redundant boilers or turbines, are stored as backups for main operating equipment to ensure continued power generation in the event of failure. However, if these assets are not properly preserved, they may become corroded by the time they are needed. Workers are then faced with a choice between installing potentially unreliable or unsafe equipment, or extending downtime while a part is ordered or restored.
Vapor phase Corrosion Inhibitors (VpCIs) offer a simple yet highly effective method to preserve critical spares and mainline power plant equipment such as turbines, conventional and auxiliary boilers, HRSGs, valves, and more, ensuring these assets are ready to use.
This technology protects both large and small enclosures with corrosion-inhibiting vapours that form a protective molecular layer on metal surfaces. When the space is opened, the Vapour phase Corrosion Inhibitors dissipate, leaving behind clean, rust-free equipment. VpCIs can be fogged into boilers and turbine flow paths for internal protection, while valves, turbines, and other components can also be wrapped in plastic films—such as VpCI®-126 HP UV Shrink Film—containing VpCIs for external protection.
Compared with nitrogen blanketing, the cost savings are significant, and effectiveness does not rely on an airtight seal, a constant nitrogen supply, or intensive monitoring. Without the need for greasy rust preventatives, it is typically quick and easy to return VpCI®-preserved assets to service. Most importantly, effective preservation ensures that critical assets remain reliable and uncompromised by rust.